Why do so few players play 30 min live chess?

Everyone dances around the real issue. Stronger players don't play 30 0 because of cheating and weak opponents.

This, and also sore losers that decide to let the clock run out. In a 3 min or 5 min game, it's only a minor inconvenience when they stall the game out.

Basically, you'll greatly increase your chances of getting screwed out of an honest chess game one way or another when you play longer online time controls like G/30. Hence why very few of the stronger players will opt for a long live game. I've even been cheated on in 3 min games, though I just moved as fast as I could to let them run out of time before their computer moves could checkmate me.

@chiss_slu, it may depend where you live, what hours you work, and what other commitments you have.

Yes, I support my local chess club and have played in a recent 60 minute round-robin, but even in a city like Melbourne, Australia, and even with a chess club open 7 days/week, there is only so much opportunity to play longer games against opponents of appropriate strength.

Tournaments run locally tend to be either one game per week for a number of weeks, or squeezed into a weekend/long weekend. And with a demanding day job a weekend tournament can be a killer as can an evening game after a hard day.

I think there's a place for online chess with "typical OTB" time controls. Your milage, of course, may vary.

On topic, I would also like to see a larger pool of 30/0 players. However, I'm not sure that it's "unpopular." I rarely wait more than a few seconds for a game, and I've never played the same player more than once (other than by choice). I've only encountered (I think) one "time troll." So, that's not an issue for me. I have the computer analyze most of my games, and there's almost no way my opponents are cheating. They make plenty of blunders and mistakes just like me.

Here's my thing: I started on this site mostly playing 15/10 games. The opponents I was facing with that time control seemed pretty competitive. Then I joined an online tournament which completely consumed my non-working life for five months. My online rating went from around 1500 to around 1780 during the 34 games I played in the tournament, whereas in live chess (at the time) I was around 1300.

When the tournament was over (I won!!! hurray) I wanted to get back to live chess, but I thought my old 15/10 would be way too fast, so I started playing 30/0.

Here's my point: I DO feel like my opponents on 30/0 are not as sharp as I remember my opponents being at 15/10. My standard live rating has risen about 100 points since I've started playing 30/0, BUT, I've also been practicing A LOT with the tactics trainer lately.

So, here's my question for the chess.com community: Is it a simple fact that the longer the time control, the weaker the competition?

Perhaps a policed slow-time control league might help? You don't need chess.com to help set it up (groups could work just fine) when a discerning admin can simply boot out people who stall their clock / resort to trash talk + other non-civil antics from the league.

The ICC's STC and 45-45 leagues do just that ... no sore losers, no non-serious players and this additional layer of oversight is kryptonite for engine users. The downside is that it takes some planning up-front but it definitely makes for a better online live-chess experience.

Yes, I tend to agree with that. It is because more serious, and better, chess players get their fill of longer games over the board, in "real life."

When they are here, it's mostly just to ham around with their friends, or perhaps play some casual blitz and bullet chess.

You are right, I play longer games mostly OTB or on other sites (FICS team ligue is a nice 45|45 tournament where you can play against strong opponents who play honestly, i.e. without engines, and improve your chess - FICS has a nice feature called WatchBot which records observer's comments and you can see after finishing the match what others thought of your game while you played it).

Besides the team ligue I though prefer blitz matches on internet, sometimes like 100 games or more during 7-8 hours. Not that I am a strong player, just a patzer with maximum FIDE rating of 2138 who tries to reach CM title eventually

Ok here is why I don't play 30 minute online. The one time I did play a 30 minute game my opponent dropped his queen 10 minutes into the game. He stopped moving and let the clock tick away hoping that I'd resign (I didn't). So yes I love one minute games instead.

I probably mentioned that in another thread, but I have a reason not to play 30|0 games here.

When I am on the computer, it is very tempting to open a new tab and check the news / the weather / the mail / etc. and lose focus on the game, even when it would be needed to concentrate. Of course that effect is stronger on longer time controls than in blitz.

Everyone dances around the real issue. Stronger players don't play 30 0 because of cheating and weak opponents.

This, and also sore losers that decide to let the clock run out. In a 3 min or 5 min game, it's only a minor inconvenience when they stall the game out.

Basically, you'll greatly increase your chances of getting screwed out of an honest chess game one way or another when you play longer online time controls like G/30. Hence why very few of the stronger players will opt for a long live game. I've even been cheated on in 3 min games, though I just moved as fast as I could to let them run out of time before their computer moves could checkmate me.

Those people are fewer and farther between. Since I opened up my chess.com account, I only landed one person like that on 30|0 time control.

Two reasons not to play any time controls but 1, 2/1 or 3. (Not even 5 min.). First, there are too many mentally ill people who would just be stalling all the time. Second, there are many cheaters who don't lack time to copy the best move in a critical moment (They don't have to use an engine from the beginning). You can not catch them. I love bullet and blitz because your opponent MUST move his arse.

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